A PARTY of young men set out for a day’s holiday many years ago, among whom was a young man eighteen years of age. The first object that attracted their attention was an old fortune-teller. They immediately engaged her to tell theirs, after having given her enough drink to intoxicate her. The young man of eighteen was told, among other things, that he would live to be very old, and see his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren growing up around him.
Though he had helped to qualify her for the fraud, by making her drunk, yet he was foolish enough to take notice of what she predicted about him.
“And so,” quoth he when alone, “I am to live to see children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren! At that age I must be a burden to the young people. What shall I do? There is no way for an old man to render himself more agreeable to youth than by sitting and telling them pleasant and profitable stories. I will then, during my youth, endeavor to store my mind with all kinds of knowledge. I will see and hear and note all that is rare and wonderful, that I may sit and entertain my descendants; thus shall my company be rendered pleasant, and I shall be respected in my old age. Let me see, what can I acquire first? Oh! here is the famous Methodist preacher, George Whitfield; he is to preach they say tonight, I will go and hear him.”
From these strange motives he went. Mr. Whitfield preached that evening from Matthew 3:7,7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matthew 3:7) “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come.” “Mr. Whitfield,” said the young man, “described the Sadducean character; this did not touch me, I thought myself as good a Christian as any man in England. From this he went to that of the Pharisees, and described their exterior decency, but observed that the poison of the viper rankled in their hearts. This rather shook me. At length, in the course of his sermon, he abruptly broke off, paused for a few moments, then burst into a flood of tears, lifted up his hands and eyes, and exclaimed, ‘O my hearers! the wrath’s to come! the wrath’s to come!’ These words sank into my heart like lead in the waters. I wept, and when the sermon was ended I retired alone.”
For days and, weeks he could think of little else; those awful words, “The wrath’s to come! the wrath’s to come!” followed him wherever he went, with the result that he publicly confessed Christ, and in a little while became a very notable preacher.
Beloved reader, are you one of that happy number who can say, “God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him” (1 Thess. 5:9, 109For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9‑10))?
M. A. D.